The present invention relates to safety devices for automobiles, and more particularly to an improved safety net device for sealing off the luggage compartment or truck of an automobile from the passenger compartment.
Safety net devices function for the purpose of mechanically sealing off the luggage compartment or trunk from the passenger compartment in station wagons or similar automobiles. They should prevent objects from being thrown from the luggage compartment into the passenger compartment in case of a rear-end collision or crash, where they would injure or kill the passengers. For this purpose, the opening which is below the inside roof lining and is remaining, for example, above the edge of the rear seat back rest is closed with the safety net when such a danger potentially exists.
If on the other hand, an endangering of the passengers can be ruled out with certainty because the loading height in the luggage compartment does not exceed the height of the rear seat edge, and also because objects sliding together can not pile up in such a way during a rear-end collision that they climb over the rear seat back rest, the safety net does not need to be used. On the contrary, it then becomes rather disruptive.
For this reason, the safety net is frequently constructed in the manner of a self-erecting window shade.
The patent EP-A-0 649 778 shows a safety net device of this type. The known safety net device has a housing, in which a winding shaft is set in bearings so that it can rotate. Onto the winding shaft, a safety net is attached with one edge and its other edge is provided with a pull bar. The pull bar carries anchorage components, which can be suspended in the corresponding receptacle bays in the car body.
The spring drive, which pretensions the winding shaft in the wind-up direction, is relatively powerful, in order to hold the safety net sufficiently tautly tensioned when it is reeled-out. The spring motor, however, is not so strong that it could retain the objects that are thrown against the safety net, during a crash or a strong braking operation.
In order to be able to deploy the safety net in the known arrangement, the pull bar must first be pulled sufficiently far out of the housing against the action of the winding spring. Only then can the anchorage components be suspended in the receptacle bays.
On account of the strength of the spring motor, a considerable force is necessary for this and on top of that, the receptacle bays are difficult for a service person standing in front of the luggage compartment opening of the vehicle to see because of the vehicle geometry. For the service person, it is therefore not easy to suspend the anchorage components in the receptacle bays, especially taking into account the somewhat unfavorable bodily posture with outstretched arms, which is necessary for this operation.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the invention is to create a safety net device which is easier to handle when it is suspended in the receptacle bays on the car body.
The present invention provides these and other advantages and overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art by providing a safety net device having a retaining device which allows the net to be unwound with as little effort as possible.
The retaining device provides that at least a portion of the pull-back force that occurs through the drive device for the winding shaft or its spring motor, is reduced. The user thus only has to apply a small supplemental force on the pull bar. This smaller force can also be readily produced with outstretched arms.
Moreover, the retaining device has the great advantage that it signals to the user when a sufficient quantity of safety net has been unwound, so that the pull bar can be guided into the receptacle bays in the car body. This is especially significant for safety nets that are to be used variably, in the sense that the housing is located in the one usage position at the level of the upper edge of the rear seat back rest. In the other usage position, the housing is located near the floor of the luggage compartment, so that a corresponding supply of safety net must be wound up onto the winding shaft. The retaining device makes it simpler for the user to find the corresponding intermediate position.
In a corresponding manner, at least one pull-out position defines a partial pull-out length, in which the safety net is only withdrawn by a portion of its total possible pull-out length. If the safety net is constructed only for one pull-out length, it is also possible to define the pull-out position such that it almost completely corresponds to the total possible pull-out length.
The handling is especially favorable when the retaining device is constructed in such a manner that it completely absorbs the pull-back force. A retaining device of this type is preferably provided so that it has two states, namely a first one in which it absorbs the pull-back force, and a second one in which it does not absorb the pull-back force, so that the safety net can be wound up again around the winding shaft.
In the case of a complete absorption of the pull-back force by the retaining device, a triggering device is allocated to the retaining device and is set up in order to transfer the retaining device from the first state into the second state.
This triggering device can be made from a timing element so that a manual activation is unnecessary. It can, however, also be planned for manual activation. This embodiment form is constructively the simplest; however, it has as a prerequisite a combined action of the user.
The retaining device can also be designed in such a manner that it at least signals to the user that the safety net has been pulled out far enough to suspend the pull bar.
For the embodiment of the retaining device, three different basic designs come into consideration. In the one basic design, the retaining device operates together with the pull bar, in the second embodiment form, together with the winding shaft and in a third embodiment form, it can act together with a bar that is affixed to the safety net.
Regardless of how the retaining device is constructed in detail, it can have catch mechanisms that act together in a non-positive manner and can be overcome, which are constructed so that they do not prevent a further pull-out of the safety net over that pull-out length in which the safety net is pulled out far enough so that the pull bar can be suspended in the receptacle bays. These catch mechanisms likewise readily absorb a portion of the pull-back force and thus make handling easier during suspension of the pull bar.
The retaining device can also have capture mechanisms that act together in a positive-locking manner, which are constructed so that they block a further pull out of the safety net over that pull out length in which the safety net is pulled out far enough so that the pull bar can be suspended in the receptacle bays.
Catch mechanisms that act together in a non-positive manner and can be overcome can, for example, be in a groove connected to the housing, which is open on the end side and in which a pull bar that is mounted on the net can be caught.
In order to create the retaining device mentioned above, which acts together with the winding shaft, a pivotable locking component can be used as a stationary retaining mechanism. This locking component is set in bearings in the housing next to the winding shaft and carries a catch that acts together with the bar affixed to the safety net. The locking component has two operating positions, where in the one position it blocks a return movement of the safety net, whereas in the other position, the bar can pass freely.
A device of this type is to be dismounted both by hand as well as automatically, and to be precise, for example, using a timing element. This timing element consists in the simplest case of a viscosity brake. So that the timing element is not effective when the locking component is brought into the locking position, it is coupled via a free-wheel to the viscosity brake. The viscosity brake only allows the locking component to slide back in a comparatively slow manner into the release position under the influence of force, so that during the total delay time, the pull-back force is absorbed by the viscosity brake.
In the case of the retaining device acting together with the pull bar, at least one spacer component is provided in the simplest case, which is affixed to the housing at one end and at the other end is connected to the pull bar. In the process, the mechanical ratios are very simple if the spacer component has a fixed, non-variable length.
In order to obtain the desired comfortable handling, the spacer component is connected to the housing in such a way that it prevents the movement of the pull bar away from the housing in the direction towards the luggage compartment opening, just as it prevents the suspension of the pull bar in the receptacle bays. This is achieved when the spacer component on the housing is coupled to an articulated device, which has two axles running at right angles to each other.
The pull bar can be provided with a slide guide for the end of the spacer component that is set off at a distance from the housing.
A catch device provided on the pull bar allows that in one state, the relevant end of the spacer component can pass freely, whereas on the other hand, in the other operating position, the spacer component can slide through in only one direction. In this way, a supporting effect occurs which is effective between the housing and the pull bar, since the pivoting of the spacer component is prevented by the catch device.